Pyro questions

[Klainmeister]

It's a good staining developer to experiment with since it seems to be more forgiving than some of the others. It took me sheets and sheets of 4x5 until I finally got PMK figured out, and by then, Pyrocat caught my attention. No need to experiment, it was damn near perfect out of the box.

I don't chase magic bullets, but I appreciate things that work well and are simple. Hence I have stuck with Pcat for years now. No proclamations from the top of the mountain of it's virtues, other than it works for me and keeps my workflow consistent.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I use PMK for almost everything and prefer it to pyrocat. Never had a bit of trouble with it. But there are all kinds of good "pyro" options out there. I have tested many of them and even cooked up a couple of my own. Either way, these staining developers work superbly on both
graded and VC papers. There are indeed nuances and arguments over specific stain coloration in relation to the color of exposing light; but
once you practice a bit, it's probably not as big an issue as some people claim. But there are damn few good graded papers left on the market
anymore; and in the meantime, VC papers have dramatically improved.